Disaster is waiting to happen

EVER since the Stardust inferno, which claimed the lives of 48 young people, experts have repeatedly called on the Government to bring Ireland’s neglected fire service into line with international practice on dealing with major disasters.

But almost 25 years after that appalling tragedy, the reality is that, if another Stardust catastrophe or a terrorist atrocity occurred today, the country’s fire services would not be able to cope.

Echoing the frustration of rank and file fighters across the country, Ireland’s leading officer has criticised the on-going neglect of a coal-face system which is ill-prepared to deal with a full-scale tragedy.

In the aftermath of the Valentine Night’s blaze, the Stardust Tribunal recommended that a national fire authority be established. Two years ago, that call was reiterated by a Government-appointed expert review body.

Instead of taking the swift action that was warranted against the backdrop of the disastrous fire, successive governments sat on their hands.

When action was finally signalled by the current administration, two ministers adopted totally contradictory stances.

Swayed by the latest assessment of how ill-prepared the service is to cope with a major disaster, former Environment Minister Martin Cullen decided to set up national fire authority.

But earlier this year, when Mr Cullen was shifted to Transport, the centralised proposal was dumped by his successor, Environment Minister Dick Roche, who favours a community-based service.

It is difficult to comprehend the logic of that move. Despite official claims that the country’s 35 services are adequately resourced to deal with any emergency situation, the ditching of proposals from the experts could yet come back to haunt this Government.

All the more so since the concept of a centralised authority was seen as highly effective in terms of providing regional leadership.

It is moot whether a community-based service would give the level of leadership required in a major emergency.

As things stand, fire fighters feel they lack the necessary skills required to deal with major disasters. There is an urgent need, according to Brian Murray, chairman of the National Firefighters Association, for specialised training and experience at the scene of major international disasters.

That would help boost confidence in the capacity of the service to deal with a serious problem here. Otherwise, the system could prove inadequate in a worst-case scenario, if there was a terrorist attack or if Ireland was hit by a nuclear disaster, a biological attack or by a flu pandemic.

In the present scenario, the fire service, which in Dublin also operates an emergency ambulance division, lacks the capability to carry out a mass decontamination of the public.

So poorly equipped is the service that, in contrast to the move to equip all members of the defence forces with protective suits against chemical, biological or radiological agents, firefighters would be lucky to have one suit between every two.

Regrettably, the deep-seated sense of neglect within the fire service has been compounded by the limp response of politicians and officials to requests for international training and on-the-ground-experience in dealing with disasters.

There is an onus on the Government to heed the dire warnings from experts by properly resourcing the fire service.

The arguments for setting up a centralised command and control system to deal with emergencies are compelling.

Inevitably, unless the cobwebs of almost 25 years are blown off the pages of the tribunal report, another Stardust tragedy is bound to happen.